MyLibrary: the library’s response to the campus portal Tim McGeary Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA Abstract Purpose – In August 2004, the Library Collections and Systems team at Lehigh University released MyLibrary @ Lehigh within the campus portal to the university community. The purpose of this article is to explain how what began as an integration strategy of the library’s electronic resources into one complete stand-alone application became the library’s response to the fast-growing campus portal. Design/methodology/approach – Explains how MyLibrary@Lehigh was developed and implemented. Findings – It became evident during its development and integration stages that MyLibrary@Lehigh would greatly enhance the success and usage of the campus portal. As a repository of all of the library’s electronic resources, MyLibrary@Lehigh has become the one-stop shop for the library within the campus-wide, one-stop shop of the campus portal. Originality/value – MyLibrary has become a clear choice as an open-source solution. Keywords Data collection, Electronic media, Libraries, Portals Paper type General review Introduction In the summer of 2002, the Library Collections and Systems (LCS) team was re-organized and began to investigate how to present the library’s many web pages and resources more effectively. Aside from the OPAC (online public access catalog), known as ASA, the library web site consisted of separate web presentations, such as an A-to-Z list of electronic journals, a subject-oriented site updated by various reference librarians (known as InfoDome), and a newly developed database finder. The latest updates of ASA, InfoDome, and the e-journal list had been completed prior to December 2001 and were in need of significant revisions. Revision of these resources presented many obstacles, including their antiquated programming and HTML design, location on multiple (and old) servers, and little or no connection to the catalog. In response to the needs of our distance education students and the growing corporate and ISP blocking of our standard-proxy service for off-campus access, we began searching for a single solution for presenting the library’s electronic resources to both on- and off-campus users. The enrollment in distance education has grown in recent years, which has added to the revenue stream of tuition, but has also challenged our library and technology services group with providing the best access possible. The solution we chose would have to meet their needs every bit as much as those of our traditional, on-campus students. Through our research, MyLibrary became a clear choice as an open-source solution. The different packages of proprietary software that we reviewed were not flexible enough to give us control of the interface and presentation, or to provide sufficient integration with the catalog. The decision to integrate MyLibrary was easy to make, despite knowing that this would require more time than a commercial solution to get The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm MyLibrary 365 Refereed article received 29 March 2005 Accepted 30 April 2005 Online Information Review Vol. 29 No. 4, 2005 pp. 365-373 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1468-4527 DOI 10.1108/14684520510617811